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In-Person Improv Level One

In-Person Improv Level One with Armando Diaz and Dennis Pacheco

Full...

Check below to see the full schedule for each session, see if your class skips a week for a holiday, and check out the date and time of your class show(s).

Class Description

From day one you will jump into a series of fun warm ups and games designed to ease you into improv. Before you know it you will be playing scenes and learning how to heighten and explore your ideas. As the class progresses you will learn how to do 2 person scenes, group scenes, group games and how to deliver simple monologues. The class is all about fun and support. Whether you are a beginner who has never improvised or someone who has improv experience, you will learn strong fundamentals that will build your confidence, improve speaking skills and foster spontaneity

NOTE: This is an in-person class. All students must be vaccinated and have proof of it. Social distancing will be practiced, masks will be worn, and sanitizer will be available.

Instructor: Armando Diaz

Armando is widely regarded as one of the best improv teachers in New York City and beyond. His list of teaching credits is a long one: the ImprovOlympic Theater, Victory Gardens Theater, The Upright Citizens Brigade Theater, NYU and Michael Howard Studios. He has trained dozens of actors who have performed or written for Saturday Night Live, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Mad TV, and The Daily Show.

A Chicago native, Armando studied improv under Del Close at the ImprovOlympic, Mick Napier at the Annoyance, and graduated from the Second City Conservatory. He performed in and helped create one of the most popular improvised longforms in Chicago, "The Armando Diaz Experience...." For the last decade, "the Armando" has been performed weekly in Chicago, and is now taught and performed in many other cities including Los Angeles and New York.

In addition to writing and producing short films, Armando wrote sketches for the show Upright Citizens Brigade on Comedy Central, and has performed on Late Night with Conan O'Brien.

Instructor: Dennis Pacheco

Dennis has been a teacher at the Magnet since mid-2021. He has been performing on stage since 2012. He is an improviser, actor, sketch writer, sketch performer, director, and coach. He studied with Peter McNerney, Russ Armstrong, Louis Kornfeld, Rachel Hamilton, Michael Delaney, Armando Diaz, Ed Herbstman, Kevin Mullaney, Joe Bill, John Timothy, Sean Casey, and other fine people.

His voice can be heard on podcasts like The Truth, Everything is Alive, Famous Dead People, and Girl Tales. He is the co-host and co-creator (with Ellen Matthews) of the podcast The Pursuit of Perfectness.

You can catch him performing Saturday nights on the cast of The Armando Diaz Experience. He is the director of Livewire sketch team Ghost Girl.

He lives in Brooklyn.

His website is dennispache.co

Full Session Schedule

Session Schedule*

  1. Jul 25, 2021, 12:00pm - 2:00pm
    at Magnet Theater
    (254 W. 29th Street)
  2. Aug 1, 2021, 12:00pm - 2:00pm
    at Magnet Theater
    (254 W. 29th Street)
  3. Aug 8, 2021, 12:00pm - 2:00pm
    at Magnet Theater
    (254 W. 29th Street)
  4. Aug 15, 2021, 12:00pm - 2:00pm
    at Magnet Theater
    (254 W. 29th Street)
  5. Aug 22, 2021, 12:00pm - 2:00pm
    at Magnet Theater
    (254 W. 29th Street)
  6. Aug 29, 2021, 12:00pm - 2:00pm
    at Magnet Theater
    (254 W. 29th Street)
  7. Sep 12, 2021, 12:00pm - 2:00pm
    at Magnet Theater
    (254 W. 29th Street)
  8. Sep 19, 2021, 12:00pm - 2:00pm
    at Magnet Theater
    (254 W. 29th Street)

Show Schedule*

  1. Sep 26, 2021, 6:00 PM
    at Magnet Theater
    (254 W. 29th Street)
    2. *scheduling subject to change